1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data computation apparatus that, through data computation, measures or simulates movement of an actual object to be controlled and develops, tests or inspects an electronic controller. The invention also relates to a method for adjusting an electronic controller using the data computation apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a multiple electronic control unit (hereinafter referred to as an “ECU”) is mounted on a vehicle, and various control operations, such as for engine control, are electronically performed. During the development process for a new vehicle, an object to be controlled, such as an engine, and an electronic controller, such as an ECU, are developed in parallel. Therefore, for the development of an ECU, the process must be initiated before the object to be controlled, such as an engine, actually exists. In any event, for efficient development, the movement or the action of the object to be controlled must be simulated.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of an HILS (Hardware In the Loop Simulation system) 1 that is conventionally used for simulating an engine when an ECU is being developed. The HILS 1, which generates a pseudo signal that serves as a substitute for the movement or the action of an engine to be controlled, is used to confirm, or test or inspect, the ECU 2 operation that is used for engine control. The HILS 1 includes multiple input boards 3, 4 and 5, a model computing portion 6, and multiple output boards 7, 8 and 9. When the connection between the input boards 3, 4 and 5 and the model computing portion 6, or the connection between the model computing portion 6 and the output boards 7, 8 and 9 is changed, the move mentor the action of an object to be simulated can be altered, and the simulation for general use can be performed.
Multiple input ports and multiple output ports are provided for the input boards 3, 4 and 5 and the output boards 7, 8 and 9. While the model computing portion 6 includes input connectors that can be connected to the input ports, and output connectors that can be connected to the output ports. With the HILS 1, data received at the input ports of the input boards 3, 4 and 5 are employed for computations performed by the model computing portion 6, and the results that are thus obtained are output through the output ports of the output boards 7, 8 and 9. For the pre-operation preparation of the HILS 1, much labor is required to set, as needed, the input ports, the input and output terminals of the model computing portion 6, and the output ports, and as the count of the ports and the input/output terminals of the model computing portion 6 that are employed is increased, the connection becomes ever more complicated, and identifying the setup state is not easy.
A conventional technique whereby, for a personal computer, I/O ports are interconnected by a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that provides drag-and-drop mouse functionality is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-8-241185. According to this technique, multiple test elements are displayed as icons, and the icons are connected by drawing lines in a manner such as is used for creating a block diagram, so that a test system for a wireless device can be re-constructed. Multiple ports are displayed for icons corresponding to the test elements that include multiple I/O ports, and one icon is connected to another by performing a drag-and-drop operation for each port.
The reconstruction method as disclosed in JP-A-8-241185 is easy for users to understand. However, when the number of ports for an icon is increased, the connection operation is difficult and the connection state is not easily identified, as in a wiring diagram for an electronic circuit substrate on which is mounted a semiconductor integrated circuit having multiple connection terminals. As was previously described, the number of ports and the input/output terminals of the model computing portion 6 are increased for the HILS 1 that simulates the engine of a vehicle, and using the method disclosed in JP-A-8-241185, it is difficult to perform the setting operation and to identify the setting state.